Heatwave: London family watched on TV as fire destroyed home

Michael Tubb says the family are now deciding whether to demolish the home

A family whose house was destroyed in a wildfire during last week's heatwave watched it burn down on television.

Michael Tubb first learned about the blaze after seeing a breaking news alert on his phone saying east London firefighters had declared an emergency.

After clicking on the story, he saw the name Wennington, a village on the outskirts of the capital where his 73-year-old mother Sandra Tubb lived.

Minutes later she phoned him, saying: "It's gone."

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Mrs Tubb watched it happen on television at her neighbour's daughter's home, having been evacuated by firefighters.

"They watched it live on TV until at one point the camera panned across from the helicopter and they saw their house ablaze," her son said.

An aerial shot shows the extent of the damage

"I put the news back on and there was the helicopter shot of our house. That was at half past four on the Tuesday," he said.

Their family home for 48 years, it was where his father died.

"I've been in the garden trying to retrieve my dad's ashes which are the only thing that have survived the terrible fire, the only thing left of our family," he said.

Millions of pounds of damage was caused in the heatwave blaze

At the peak of the blaze, an area of about 40 hectares (100 acres) was ablaze.

London Fire Brigade said two detached houses, two semi-detached houses, two rows of terraced houses, two outbuildings, six single-storey garages, 12 stables and five cars were destroyed.

Mrs Tubb's possessions, including photos and the blankets she brought her son home from hospital in as a baby, are gone.

"It's a total loss," her son said. "Every piece of memorabilia and anything that's sentimental that's meant anything to her has completely gone.

"She's distraught. She's a very sentimental person so she's a lot more emotional than say I am; she's more concerned about my baby photos and things like that."

Many people in Wennington have the difficult task of deciding what to do next

He added emergency services got his mother out straight away, meaning she left with "just the clothes on her back".

Since the fire, Mrs Tubb has been staying in a hotel arranged by Havering Council while they look for something more permanent.

The family now have the difficult task of deciding whether to knock the entire house down.

"I look at that now, there's not a floor, there's not a wall.

"It's like a mixture of when someone dies and you're moving house - there's so many things to try and arrange.

"Just trying to think about how we move on with nothing, that's the hard part.

"At no point are you expected to start your life with absolutely nothing, not a teaspoon, you know nothing at all, so we're all trying to rally around Mum and make sure she has everything."

He added: "It's hard. It's been an absolutely traumatic week."